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Nucleic Acid Sample Preparation

Nucleic Acid Sample Preparation

Nucleic Acid Sample Preparation: DNA / RNA Extraction & Purification

Nucleic acid sample preparation is used to extract and purify RNA and DNA from biological samples that may contain tissue, blood, or other organic matter and prepare them for use.

Applications for Nucleic Acid Sample Preparation

Nucleic acid sample preparation is a required sample prep step for many research processes across various laboratories, including:

Clinical and medical research

Life science

Pharmaceutical

Academic laboratories, and more.

Nucleic Acid Extraction

There are two main ways to obtain RNA or DNA from a sample:

Phenol-chloroform extraction

Column-based extraction

In phenol-chloroform extraction, the sample is placed in a biphasic mixture of phenol-chloroform and water. The RNA/DNA is isolated in the aqueous phase, while the rest of the sample is partitioned into the organic phase.

In column-based extraction, the nucleic acids bind to the column and the other organic materials are washed from the column.

Once extracted, other nucleic acid sample preparations might be cutting them into fragments, labeling, or amplifying them.

Keep in mind the features that are most important to your nucleic acid sample preparation when choosing equipment and reagents. Sample size needed, extraction type, reagents and primers needed, speed of preparation, and purity of sample can vary.